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Upsurge in caution after shark attacks

Although the incidents are rare, beachgoers watch the waters closely during the holiday weekend.

ST. GEORGE ISLAND - Three shark attacks in Gulf of Mexico waters off the Florida coast ahead of the Fourth of July weekend didn't keep tourists off the white sands of this resort island Monday, but many beachgoers stayed close to shore or out of the water altogether.

The odds, most figured, were in their favor - especially if they were careful.

"There's a beach so there's sharks in there somewhere," said Karen McGlamory of Atlanta. "I'm not going out there so deep I can't get a foothold so that if I see anything I can grab hold on the bottom and run back to shore."

Carol Anderson of Lanark Village, who has lived along the Gulf Coast for nearly 17 years, observed most visitors this weekend were attentive to the recent shark attacks in gulf waters.

"People are being more cautious, but you can't keep them out of the water," Anderson said. "They don't seem to be alarmed the sharks are headed this way. They hit closer and closer to this area."

A Tennessee teenager had his right leg amputated after an attack at neighboring Cape San Blas on June 27, just two days after a Louisiana teenage girl was fatally mauled by a shark near Destin, about 80 miles west.

And just Friday, an Austrian tourist was bit on the ankle by a shark while in chest-deep water in the Gulf of Mexico at Boca Grande, about 300 miles away in southwest Florida. He was released from a hospital Sunday.

There have also been other scares in recent days. Sharks were seen about 20 feet from shore in Deerfield Beach last week, prompting a temporary closure of the Broward County beach.

And Sunday, the Monroe County sheriff's department received a call after a man was reportedly "surrounded by sharks" in waters off Long Key State Park, sheriff's spokeswoman Becky Herrin said. The man was safely ashore by the time deputies arrived.

Despite the recent incidents, shark attacks in Florida are relatively rare, with 30 in 2003 among the millions of people who hit the state's beaches. Last year, when four hurricanes kept many visitors away, there were 12 attacks.

Anderson's son, Scooter Anderson, of Douglasville, Ga., and his fiancee, Christine Nappo, had driven down for the weekend to enjoy the beach, which sits a half dozen miles and two bridges away from the fishing village of Apalachicola.

"I stayed in closer than anybody else," Scooter Anderson said. "I stayed in closer than ever before."

Marc Moncrief, 42, of Calvary, Ga., wife Sherry and their two teenagers were down for the day and acknowledged the shark stories had them debating just what exactly they would do in the murky water in the 90-degree heat.

"Sailboat? I said "no' because if we turned over out there I didn't want to fight off any bull sharks," Sherry Moncrief said. "Also we talked about renting Jet Skis (but) it was more the price of jet skis ($50 a half hour) than the bull sharks."

Last year's hurricanes damaged the usual holiday stops in the St. Augustine and Crescent Beach area on the Atlantic coast for Dave Olinski, of Jacksonville, who instead brought sons Scott, 19, and Chris, 22, to St. George.

While Scott fished from shore, Olinski, 53, and son Chris sunbathed.

Sharks?

"It's not a big deal for me," Olinski said. "I'm not a big swimmer. Most of the time I fish and sit on the beach."

Carol Anderson said she wished they would ban fishing altogether in areas where people swim. "I'm not good fish bait," she said.

Shark attacks increase in the summer when the predators swim closer to shore and tourists flock to the water.

"We'll probably look a little closer at the surroundings as you go out in the water, keep a little closer eye than we normally have to be on the safe side since there have been shark attacks," Moncrief said. "We'll still go in the water."

[Last modified July 5, 2005, 01:32:04]